Love On Broadway

Chapter 1: Lin-Manuel

I fiddled with the buttons on my coat, trying to calm my nerves. This wasn't the first show of Hamilton on Broadway, but the nerves still gets me. I smoothed down my hair. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Daveed behind me. "Let's do this again." He laughed. And walked out on stage and began singing. After a few seconds I stepped out and looked at the crowd, and I saw the same thing I always saw. The audience. My nerves slowly started to melt away. I was going to give this crowd a show.

***

At intermission, my throat was raspy and my mouth was dry. A backstage member handed me a bottle of water. I thanked her and chugged half the bottle. I walked over to Jasmine and Renee who were talking and drinking water. "Hey ladies," I said.

"Hey Lin," Renee said, and Jasmine nodded. Renee plays Angelica Schuyler and Jasmine plays her sister Peggy Schuyler and also Maria Reynolds in the second act. Phillipa plays the second Schuyler sister, also my wife, but I didn't know where she went. "Have you seen Phillipa?" Renee asked me.

"You know as much as me." I saw Anthony walking by and I grabbed his arm, stopping him. "Where's Phillipa?" I asked him.

"Last I saw her, she was in the bathroom, but Lin," He sighed. "She didn't look so good."

I sighed and blinked, I looked to Jasmine, she nodded and went to go see Phillipa. I tried not to think about kissing her if she was sick. I went to go get more water. Around the corner, I ran into someone. "I'm sorry...um, Emma?" I tried not to make it sound like I was guessing. I mentally cursed myself for not knowing her name.

She raised one of her dark eyebrows, "Yeah, it's me, Excuse me Lin..." She shook a bottle of pills in front of my face. "Nausea pills for Phillipa, I heard she's not feeling very well." She was about to leave, then I called after her.

"Hey, how was your interview?" She had an interview before the show."

She shrugged. "It was fine..." She thought for a second. "They asked about you."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah," She smirked. "They asked if we were close friends, you know since I worked with you on 'In The Heights' years ago."

"And what did you say?"

"I said we were..." She search for the word. "acquaintances."

"Why's that, I might asked, we've been working for years we should be friends." I took a step closer to her.

She smirked. "Lin you didn't know my name."

I felt guilty, I'd known this girl and worked with her for years, and I barely knew her name. She came closer and set her hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes. She had dark hazel eyes.

"It's fine, it's been happening for years, a little longer won't hurt." She sound sincere, but something was in her eyes, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Her eyebrow suddenly furrowed then pressed her finger against her ear. "I know Mark I'm coming, I have the pills for her."  She turned and began to walk away. She looked at me one last time and smiled before disappearing down the hall.

I felt disgusted with myself. How could I've not known someone's name. I knew she was important. She had to be, if she worked on In The Heights with me also, as a stage member, she looked official too. With black jeans, black button-down shirt, and a black blazer, but all stage crew members had to wear black. But the way she carried herself, just made me want to respect her, even with my place of lead and creator of the play. I continued down the hallway.